SARATOGA SPRINGS -- A controversial criminal case involving four Skidmore College students moved closer to conclusion Tuesday when two defendants entered guilty pleas in City Court.

Korvin Vicente and Elijah Johnston, both 19, were originally charged with assault after an early morning fight at Compton's restaurant on Broadway in December. They pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a violation. Each man is expected to pay a $250 fine.

They and two other defendants went into the diner for a meal and are accused of attacking a man who was eating there. The victim suffered cuts to his head that required stitches. One student, Justin Tavarez, 19, was charged with a hate crime on accusations he used a racial slur during the course of the assault.

Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III later said there wasn't enough evidence to support the charge. Tavarez admitted hitting the victim over the head with a plate and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault. He will be sentenced April 5.

An assault charge is still pending against the fourth student, Sakhile Sithole, 20, who is expected in court March 1. Murphy has also offered him a plea deal of disorderly conduct.

The controversy about the case stemmed from the way some Skidmore staff and students reacted to the incident. Rochelle Calhoun, dean of student affairs at Skidmore, accompanied the students to their first court appearances. Susan Kress, Skidmore's acting president, met with Murphy and urged him to drop the hate crime charge. Murphy said it was the first meeting he's ever had with a Skidmore president, despite handling other criminal cases involving Skidmore students.

Four members of the faculty signed a letter supporting the students and established a legal defense fund on their behalf through the Troy chapter of the NAACP.

Winston Grady-Willis, a professor and one of the letter signers, said Tuesday he would withhold comment until Sithole's case is finished.

Jonathan Burkan, a member of Skidmore's Class of 1993 who has followed the story closely, said he was angry staff at the school devoted their resources to the defendants. There seemed to be no acknowledgment, Burkan said, of the crime the men committed, even after Tavarez admitted to hitting the victim with a plate. It hurts the value of a Skidmore degree, he said.

"If people are going around beating others, the college reaction should be 'This will not be tolerated,' not support," Burkan said.

E. Stewart Jones, Vicente's lawyer, said the event ''developed a life of its own," and his client wanted to see it come to an end. He said two weeks ago Vicente planned to reject the plea offer because he wanted to clear his name, but he decided against it because he wanted the distraction to end so he could return to his studies.

Johnston's lawyer, Dan Stewart, said his client's primary goal is to move on even though he too said he was innocent.

"Eli tried to be a peacemaker. He shook hands with the victim and then tried to separate him and Tavarez," Stewart said.

Johnston, who along with Sithole is a member of the Skidmore basketball team, was briefly removed from the team, Stewart said. A roster on Skidmore's website lists both men.

Officially, Skidmore has been tight-lipped. A spokeswoman released the following statement:

"We're pleased that the cases of these students have been resolved in the courts. In consideration of our students' privacy, our practice at Skidmore is not to discuss the educational records of individual students. This includes the status of any disciplinary proceedings that might be pending against them. We can say that when court cases are complete, students generally enter into the college's disciplinary process to determine if they have violated the Student Code of Conduct and, if so, to determine the appropriate sanction(s)."